Cullman Chamber launches Christmas display contest

Published 5:30 am Thursday, November 5, 2020

The Christmas season is approaching, and the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce is encouraging local businesses to get into the spirit with its annual Holiday Storefront Contest.  

Members of the chamber are invited to decorate their storefronts to bring some holiday cheer to the city’s residents, and the storefront chosen as the season’s best will be awarded with a $500 cash prize, the use of their storefront photo in advertising for next year’s contest and  bragging rights over all of the other businesses in the area. 

To enter the contest, chamber members should email a photo of their decorated storefront — including their name and business name — to info@cullmanchamber.org by 5 p.m. on Nov. 18. 

The chamber will then create a photo album with all the entries that will be posted on the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center Facebook page on Nov. 23, and the winner will be chosen by the number of “likes” that each photo receives. Voting will end on Dec. 13 at 5 p.m., and the winner will be announced on Dec. 14. 

Stores that decorate for the contest will be on full display during the Cullman Area Christmas Open House, which is set to begin on Friday, Nov. 13 and running through Sunday, Nov. 15. 

This year’s open house — the 30th annual Christmas outing hosted by the Chamber — will help any area business promote its holiday-season sales through the Nov. 13-15 weekend by joining forces with the City of Cullman and the Cullman County Commission. 

Combined, their marketing dollars will help get the word out, via advertising and social media blasts, to everyone in a 60-mile radius from Huntsville and Birmingham — places whose residents are more than happy drive an hour to enjoy some traditional Christmas sights and sounds, after a long lockdown summer.

Unlike previous Chamber-staged events, this one won’t be limited to Chamber member businesses, and it won’t cost participating retailers any money to join in. To register for the open house, business owners should visit cullmanopenhouse.com and be ready to boost their traffic with a tied-in promotion that includes an in-store giveaway for customers and hanging the provided promotion poster where customers can’t miss it.